{"id":21552,"date":"2018-09-06T15:33:48","date_gmt":"2018-09-06T19:33:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=21552"},"modified":"2018-09-06T15:33:48","modified_gmt":"2018-09-06T19:33:48","slug":"these-boots-were-made-for-rockin-magna-hoedown-showdown-names-its-top-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/these-boots-were-made-for-rockin-magna-hoedown-showdown-names-its-top-10\/","title":{"rendered":"These Boots Were Made For Rockin\u2019: Magna Hoedown Showdown names its Top 10"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Anna Cianni<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s no better way to end summer than with a community-wide festival full of ribs, sweet treats, and of course, country music. The Magna Hoedown Showdown semi-finals took place on Aug. 25 at this year\u2019s annual Aurora Ribfest.
\nAs part of the free entertainment in Machell Park, 20 semi-finalists of the Ontario-wide contest each got a chance to perform on stage in front of judges and an audience who braved the rain. They competed for a finalist spot in the top ten, and the opportunity to perform at this year\u2019s Magna Hoedown on September 14.
\nBy mid-afternoon, judges Steve Hinder, Tom Cross, and Joan Kelley Walker \u2013 along with the help of emcee Beverley Mahood \u2013 narrowed down the selection to ten finalists. Their names are Katie Sacco, Dustin Bird, Vicki Biersteker, Patrick James Clark, Dayna Reid, Amir Brandon, Mary Paige St. Onge, Derek Reilly, Zoe Jayne, and Molly McNulty.
\n\u201c[Judging] that was exceptionally difficult,\u201d said Walker. \u201cIt\u2019s my third year judging and every year the bar raises.\u201d She said this year they were really looking for people who were comfortable on stage and who belonged there. \u201cWe want someone who sounds unique and sounds like themselves,\u201d said Walker. \u201cI want to close my eyes and hear these songs on the radio!\u201d
\nThese finalists will compete again at this year\u2019s Magna Hoedown on September 14, where the winner of the Hoedown Showdown will be determined. The winner will receive a $2,500 cash prize, Yamaha guitar and amp package, $2,500 styling and gift card package from Upper Canada, two full days of recording at Metalworks Studios, \u2018The Ultimate Artist Package\u2019 with professional management, coaching, styling, and songwriting by industry professionals, as well as the opportunity to perform again on the second night of the hoedown.
\nWalker has seen how winning the Hoedown Showdown has changed the lives of the last two winners. Mac Shepherd won in 2016 and John Anderson won in 2017. \u201c[They both] have done incredibly well performing all over the place,\u201d said Walker. \u201cIt\u2019s a real leg up, especially now that the Hoedown Showdown has its own momentum. It\u2019s really leaving its mark in the Canadian country music scene.\u201d
\nAnderson, winner of last year\u2019s Hoedown Showdown, also performed at the Aurora Ribfest after the semi-finals took place. Since winning the competition, his career has taken off and he is getting ready to release his first album. He said he\u2019s gotten lots of mentorship, opportunities, and advice from the judges. \u201cEveryone wanted to help me out in some way,\u201d said Anderson.
\nFinalist Patrick James Clark from Mulmur is looking to be the 2018 winner. He made it to the finals last year too. \u201cThis year I came with a little more grit. I truly believe winning [the Hoedown Showdown] would help take me to the next step of my career.\u201d He said he\u2019s played at over 100 shows since last year, but \u201cthe opportunities [that] the Hoedown presents are astronomical and something that any indie artist would have a very tough time securing on their own.\u201d
\nDerek Reilly, another one of the finalists, he said he\u2019s very excited for the Hoedown. \u201cI\u2019m just speechless!\u201d Reilly\u2019s first time performing was around a campfire with friends and family.
\nHinder called Reilly\u2019s performance at the semi-finals \u201ca great stage debut.\u201d
\nAfter the show, Reilly said, \u201cI\u2019ve never been so engaged with a crowd before. It just felt amazing!\u201d His family came out to support him and his mom, Kerri, said, \u201cWe are beyond excited for him! I just can\u2019t wait to see what happens at the Hoedown. It\u2019ll be the best experience yet!\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s no better way to end summer than with a community-wide festival full of ribs, sweet treats, and of course, country music. The Magna Hoedown Showdown semi-finals took place on Aug. 25 at this year\u2019s annual Aurora Ribfest. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":21497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/2018-09-06-05.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-5BC","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-26 07:06:50","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}